Table 1.
Antipsychotic therapy and TL in empirical studies.
| Methods | Study Groups | Drug Studied | Conclusion | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL by qPCR | G1: 170 Hispanic patients with SCZ (with antipsychotic therapy) G2: 126 Hispanic healthy controls |
Low-risk antipsychotics; atypical antipsychotics (clozapine; olanzapine) | Compared to G2 and G1, using medium and low-risk antipsychotics, G1, with atypical antipsychotics, which cause metabolic syndrome, had severe TL erosion. Olanzapine promotes TL shortening significantly than clozapine. |
[133] |
| Southern blot analysis of mean length of terminal restriction fragment | G1: 34 patients with SCZ that responded well to treatment G2: 35 patients with SCZ that did not respond well to treatment G3: 76 healthy controls |
Antipsychotics (analysis conducted regarding treatment adherence) | The subsequent cellular malfunction could contribute to the gradual decline in treatment-resistant SCZ. TL shortening in G2. |
[134] |
| Telomere DNA and PP | G1: antipsychotic treatment-naive SCZ patients G2: control subjects |
Antipsychotics (analysis conducted regarding protective effects of drugs after treatment initiation) | Prior to antipsychotic treatment, patients with psychosis had a reduction in telomere DNA content and an elevation in PP. | [135] |
| TL and mtDNA copy number | G1: 89 patients with 8 weeks on antipsychotic terapy (divided into G1(a)-responders and G1(b)-non-responders) G2: 144 controls |
Risperidone | Before risperidone initiation, the TL in G1 was average, but mtDNA was lower than in G2. After risperidone initiation, G1(a), compared to G1(B), had longer TL and lower mtDNA TL and mtDNA could predict response to antipsychotic treatment. |
[136] |
| TL by qPCR | G1: 30 SCZ patients with long-acting injectable antipsychotics G2: 30 SCZ patients with oral atypical antipsychotics |
Long-acting injectable antipsychotics; oral atypical antipsychotics | TL might be able to predict how antipsychotic drugs function in SCZ patients. | [137] |
| Negative SCZ symptoms are predicted by shorter TL. | ||||
| TL by qPCR | 1241 SCZ patients | Antipsychotics | Antipsychotic medication had no effect on TL | [138] |
| 1042 controls | ||||
| TL by multiplex qPCR | 81 antipsychotic naïve patients 173 SCZ patients 173 healthy controls |
Antipsychotics | SCZ patients had longer TL than healthy individuals Patients with non-remitted SCZ exhibited a longer TL than those with remitted SCZ. No effect of antipsychotic medication on TL. |
[139] |
| leukocytes subjected to H2O2; treated for 7 days with antipsychotics; TL by RT-PCR | Healthy individuals | Aripiprazole; haloperidol; clozapine | Aripiprazole and haloperidol treatment increased TL by 23% and 20% after hydrogen peroxide stimulation | [126] |
| qPCR for TL and hTERT gene expression, brain neurotrophic factor by ELISA | 20 male SCZ patients 20 healthy controls |
Antipsychotics | SCZ patients had shorter TL than controls. SCZ patients’ TL increased after antipsychotic treatment. Late-stage patients exhibited a shorter TL than early-stage patients and controls. hTERT gene expression was upregulated during mania and remission. |
[140] |
| TL by qPCR | SCZ patients with early duration of illness (≤5 years) SCZ patients with chronic duration of illness (≥5 years) healthy individuals |
Chlorpromazine | Patients with early and chronic psychosis exhibited a considerably prolonged TL in comparison to healthy control subjects. Insignificant correlation between chlorpromazine-equivalent dosages and TL. |
[141] |
Legend: TL—telomere length; SCZ—schizophrenia; PP—pulse pressure; mtDNA—mitochondrial DNA; qPCR—quantitative polymerase chain reaction; hTERT—human telomerase reverse transcriptase; ELISA—enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.